Hoy and Pendleton cap triumphant team effort as Britain charge back

Sunday 2 December 2007 19.02 EST
First published on Sunday 2 December 2007 19.02 EST

Britain's track cyclists recovered from a disappointing first day at the Sydney World Cup with Victoria Pendleton, Chris Hoy and the team pursuit squad leading a charge over the weekend that re-established them as the team to beat in the velodrome.

Pendleton put the disappointment of her elimination in Friday's sprint quarter-final behind her, and overcame the effects of a stomach bug to return yesterday with a gold medal in the women's keirin. Hoy emulated her success in the men's event, with Ross Edgar taking the silver.

But it was arguably the men's team pursuit squad that provided Dave Brailsford, the British performance director, with the most satisfaction. A makeshift quartet, including one rider who had arrived late in Sydney and one who had contested the points race the previous evening, stormed to a decisive victory in Saturday's 4km event in a time that surprised not only their opponents but also Brailsford.

"Brilliant," was Brailsford's description of the performance of Bradley Wiggins, Chris Newton, Ed Clancy and Steve Cummings. "It shows the level we've stepped up to. Bradley had stepped off the plane, Chris had raced the previous evening, and the only time they rode together was for four laps [1km] prior to qualifying. To then ride together as they did in qualifying [where they recorded the fastest time of 4:04.16] was phenomenal."

In the final the British quartet romped to victory, their rapid 4:01.19 almost four seconds faster than their New Zealand rivals. Down in eighth, meanwhile, was the team expected to be their principal opponents at the Beijing Olympics, the World Cup hosts Australia, whose track cycling team is known as the Cyclones and whose rider, Graeme Brown, provided some colourful commentary on the rivalry between the two nations.

Brown claimed the British team's early superiority could be counter-productive, "because then they will get a little confident and we'll knock them down. It's like the Ashes in 2005. We came back and kicked their bums in '06". Warming to his theme, he added: "Australians are put on this earth to kick a Pom's bum, aren't they? Isn't that what it's all about?"

Brailsford made only a veiled reference to the rivalry. "There was a lot of talk before this World Cup of the resurrection of the Australian A team, but in the event it didn't materialise," he said. "We concentrate on what we do and we're confident we're heading in the right direction. Overall we've had some brilliant results."

One disappointment was the failure of Wiggins and Mark Cavendish to gel in the madison. After being off the pace in their first outing as team-mates at the recent Ghent Six-Day, they were 13th in Sydney yesterday. Today they head for next weekend's second World Cup in Beijing, where they will be looking for the kind of performance that might confirm them as the first-choice pair for the Olympics. "Brad's good," said Brailsford, "but Cavendish hasn't got his track legs back yet."

The British successes in both men's and women's keirins demonstrated the sprinters' fine current form. Pendleton's win was unexpected after she admitted to rustiness in the sprint, and then withdrew from Saturday's 500m time-trial due to illness. "She's not 100%," said Brailsford, "but to get up and win the keirin was incredible."

Hoy's victory in the men's keirin extends an extraordinary run of success in what is, in theory, one of the most unpredictable of events. The Scot has won all of the 16 international keirins he has contested, adding Saturday's qualifying heat and final from a field that contained the world's fastest sprinters. "Having both Ross [Edgar] and me in the race is good," said Hoy, "because we can help each other. He knows I'm going to go hard from the front, so if he hangs on he'll be up there at the end."

The tactic worked again in Sydney, with Hoy leading from the front and Edgar, sitting behind him, held on for second. Hoy followed it up with a bronze in yesterday's sprint, recording a personal best of 10.17sec for 200m in qualifying, before losing to France's Kevin Sireau in the semi-final.